Women's Tennis

Freshmen Duo Claims Doubles Win in Loss to No. 59 UC Davis

Jan 20, 2012

TEMPE, Ariz. – Freshmen Hannah Stone and Johanna Vang teamed for a doubles victory in their collegiate debuts, but No. 59 UC Davis claimed the doubles point by winning the two remaining doubles matches en route to a 7-0 victory over the Northern Arizona women's tennis team on Friday at the Whiteman Tennis Center. Stone and Vang's 8-1 win at No. 2 doubles was the Lumberjacks' only victory of the day in the season opener for both teams.

"Hannah and Johanna came out with a ton of energy," said director of tennis Kim Bruno. "They did everything right. They poached, they set up points and they didn't make errors. The way they played doubles is the way we need to play doubles. That's what it takes to win a match."

After Stone and Vang beat Nicole Koehly and Dahra Zamudio convincingly in the first doubles match, UC Davis tied it with a win at No. 1 when Nicole Koehly and Dahra Zamudio defeated juniors Malia Wahinepio and Nicole Perez, 8-3. The doubles point would come down to the No. 3 match, where juniors Alice Pacaut and Alice Walker fell behind 7-3 to the Aggies' Lauren Curry and Ellie Edles. Pacaut and Walker would bring the match to 7-6 before dropping the next game, giving the Aggies a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

The Aggies would sweep through the six singles matches, winning in straight sets except at No. 5. Pacaut dropped the first set to Koehly, 7-6, before forcing a third set with a 6-1 win in the second. Pacaut would eventually lose in the third set though in the last completed match, securing UC Davis' 7-0 win.

"The difference between the two teams today was their level of consistency," Bruno said. "They're used to grinding out points at low altitude and we were going for too much. We couldn't hang in long enough in points and that's it. I saw a lot of good things, but we need to be more consistent when we're doing things well."

Despite the loss, it was a successful debut for Stone and Vang, the only two freshmen on the team. Vang in particular led in both sets of her singles match, in addition to her teaming with Stone for the doubles win.

"I felt like (Hannah and I) did really well and did what we're supposed to do," Vang said. "We did what we talked about at practice. As a team though, we played hard, but we just need to practice those long points. We're doing what we can at practice, and if we keep at it, we'll be in good position."

The Lumberjacks have next week off before returning to the court for three matches in as many days beginning with a road match at UTEP on February 3 in El Paso, Texas.